


One Day

by idiotwithacatpen



Series: Fair Game Week Soulmate Aus [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: I blame writer's block, I wrote this in an hour, M/M, Okay bye, because I just need it done, my writing gets PROGRESSIVELY worse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23232817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idiotwithacatpen/pseuds/idiotwithacatpen
Summary: Only soulmates can touch each other's birds, so when Oscar watches Qrow touch Clover's bird and do nothing about it, he's allowed to be a little confused.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: Fair Game Week Soulmate Aus [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666321
Comments: 7
Kudos: 97





	One Day

“Puppy, no!” Ruby leaps after her hummingbird as it takes flight with impossible strength, holding the remains of her cookie in its beak. She bursts into rose petals, but her bird does too. They fly around the room together, Ruby never more than a foot behind the tiny spray of petals.

Blake reaches out as the hummingbird passes her, fingers clamping around the cookie crumb. Puppy’s beak collides with her fingers, but it goes straight through around the cookie.

Ruby stops and lands on her feet to take the crumb from Blake and shove it in her own mouth. She swallows it in one gulp and says to her bird, “Sorry, Puppy. You’ve had too much sugar today.”

“And you haven’t?” Weiss storms over, her swan in tow. The swan gives Ruby a disdainful glare and makes a strange honking noise to emphasize Weiss’s point. “I seem to remember telling you only three cookies today!”

Oscar shakes his head as the swan makes another sassy noise and flaps its wings. Sometimes he wonders if Weiss would have been better off with a goose. Actually, no, he doesn’t. No one is better off with a goose.

“I’ve only had five,” Ruby mutters, but she pulls another cookie out of her pocket the second Weiss turns her back. Weiss’s swan- a bird named Anmut, if Oscar remembers correctly- notices and smacks it out of her hand.

Oscar sighs and leaves the living room once Puppy and Anmut get into their third fight of the day. He finds himself wandering their massive hotel room until he finds Qrow and Clover in the kitchen, playing cards. As usual.

They don’t notice him at first as Qrow’s crow, Lucky, tries sneaking a peek at Clover’s cards. Qrow pulls him away just in time.

Already squawking a challenge, Clover’s kingfisher, Kyra, dive-bombs Qrow. She ducks under Lucky and flies right behind Qrow, hoping to see his cards. Qrow waves a hand to shoo her away, relying on the air to get his point across.

Only soulmates can touch each other’s birds, so Oscar doesn’t expect to see anything happen. But when Qrow’s hand touches Kyra, it sends her tumbling back before she returns to Clover. She lets out a confused little squeak as she settles on Clover’s shoulder, no doubt telling him about the contact.

Clover stiffens and turns to Qrow, who’s not even looking at him. The former Ace Op’s fingers slowly reach towards Lucky- and then stop. He pulls his hand back before Qrow notices.

Oscar frowns before he remembers that they don’t know he’s here. As quietly as he can, he slips away around the corner.

Qrow was able to touch Kyra, and Clover knew it. Not that he wouldn’t. He would have felt that touch as if it was him Qrow was pushing away. Oscar shuts his eyes and tries to remember their expressions. That was shock in Clover’s eyes, along with something far more tender. He’s sure of it. But in Qrow’s eyes, there was a brief acknowledgement.

“Oscar? Are you okay?” Oscar looks up to see Ruby staring down at him in concern. 

“They both know,” he sighs. “But neither of them is going to do anything.”

He doesn’t expect Ruby to know what he’s talking about, but the understanding in her eyes tells him she does. She glances around the corner to Qrow and Clover. “Their birds?”

Oscar nods.

“Uncle Qrow’s known for a while,” Ruby sighs. “But after Tyrian… you know… I don’t think he trusts himself to be around Clover that much. You know how he is about that.”

“Do you, ah, know if they…”

“Romantic soulmates for sure,” Ruby replies. “But that’s not important. Uncle Qrow is worried about Clover, which is stupid. They’re supposed to help each other be the best they can be- it’s not like his presence is going to get him killed!”

“Keep your voice down,” Oscar hisses. “And, yeah. I don’t know why he won’t acknowledge it. I mean, he’s seen what happened with Weiss when she met you, right?”

Ruby nods. “It’ll take him a while, but he’ll get there. I’m sure of it.” A little glint of hope appears in her tone. “Clover’s a good person. He’ll wait as long as it takes.”

Oscar remembers the tenderness in Clover’s eyes and finds himself agreeing with Ruby. “One day.”

Deep in the back of Oscar’s mind, Ozpin sighs and wishes he could hit his head against the wall. One day? They don’t have until _one day._ Better to just- he stops himself. Everyone’s different, he reminds himself. And besides, look at his own soulmate.

So when Ruby mimics Oscar’s words, he has to agree.

Maybe one day.

**Author's Note:**

> you thought Nora was terrifying before? Her bird is a great potoo.
> 
> anyway this just gets progressively worse and it's also late because it be like that sometimes and by sometimes I mean all the time


End file.
